UNC unveils program to help young people find jobs in NC's 100 counties

For the next two years, the new program, titled Our State, Our Work: Connecting Young Adults with Their Future, will help North Carolinians who are out of school and work find employment opportunities.

“Last year, as we began to pick our heads up and think about what a post-COVID world may look like, whenever that may be, it occurred to the chancellor that this was actually the perfect time to engage an initiative where the university pledged its resources, its assets, to support communities in every part of North Carolina,” said UNC School of Government Professor Anita Brown-Graham.

This is the first in a series of programs under Carolina Across 100, a five-year pan-university effort led by Brown-Graham to partner with communities in all of North Carolina’s 100 counties.

“That’s exactly what Carolinas across 100 is. It’s, we’re going to meet you where you are, and we’re going to partner with you to design solutions to the challenges that may be were caused by COVID, but more likely challenges that existed, or were exacerbated by COVID, and we’re going to stick with you until we figure out how to solve them,” Brown-Graham added.

Carolina Across 100 will work with these communities to address and co-create solutions to some of the most pressing challenges.

Program leaders surveyed about 3,000 people across the state to learn more about the issues surrounding job loss, which includes disruptions in health care, childcare, housing stability and food security.

“I work on a university campus. I have seen the struggles of young people who are at Carolina. Think about young people who don’t have the kind of support that those who are at an institution like UNC have. And really we’re going to try to focus on those young people,” said Brown-Graham.

She said they are focused on connecting with young adults who are significantly unemployed between the ages of 16 to 24. They will work with those who are disconnected from education and disconnected from employment.

“We are going to try to give them an opportunity to upscale themselves. To get the kinds of credentials they will need in order to have living wage jobs that allow them and their families to thrive,” added Brown-Graham.

The goal is to partner with non-profits, colleges, organizations, employers and more to make the program self-sustainable.

“We want to meet communities exactly where they are and give them the resources that they tell us they need to move this work forward,” she added.

Joining Brown-Graham at the event to discuss this collaboration will be education, industry and community leaders from Alamance, Chatham, Durham, Orange and Person counties.

The event will take place at Durham Technical Community College’s Orange County Campus at 525 College Park Road in Hillsborough.

Applications for the program will go live online following the meeting.